#F1 #QatarGP #SprintQualifying: @LandoNorris scores final #F1Sprint pole.

Norris Qatar Sprint Pole – Lando Norris took the final F1 Sprint pole position of the season at the Qatar GP ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell who split the McLaren duo in second as Oscar Piastri completed the top three in the other MCL38 entry.

In SQ3, the initial flyers saw Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc post a lap-time of a 1:21.705, Norris came next to get provisional pole with a 1:21.012 after two purples in the final two sectors.

Piastri also demoted Leclerc to slot in second and 0.159 seconds behind his team-mate. Russell ended up third and 0.274 off Norris’s benchmark as also Verstappen and Hamilton sent Leclerc to sixth.

The final hot-laps saw Norris abort his second flyer after running into the gravel at turn two and return to the pits having already secured pole as his team-mate Piastri got the best sector one effort but could not improve on his last two sectors and ended up behind Russell who slotted into second with all personal bests and wounded up 0.063 off Norris in a McLaren sandwich.

Sainz was the lead Ferrari in fourth with his sole lap coming at the end of the season ahead of team-mate Leclerc who took fifth as newly-crowned four time world champion Max Verstappen qualified sixth for Red Bull.

The other Mercedes F1 W15 entry of Sir Lewis Hamilton lines up on the fourth row of the grid in seventh and alongside Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who came eighth in the classification.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and RB’s Liam Lawson rounded out the top ten.

In SQ2, which was topped by Norris, a late improvement from Gasly sent Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso out of an SQ3 spot by 0.04 seconds meaning the two-time world champion will start the F1 Sprint 11^th.

Williams’ Alexander Albon slipped to 12^th after the flurry of late improvements with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas in 13^th.

The other Aston Martin AMR24 entry of Lance Stroll and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen were the slowest of the SQ2 runners in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In SQ1, which was topped by Norris, a late improvement from Williams’ Alexander Albon and Aston Martin’s Stroll saw Red Bull’s Sergio Perez quickest of the Q1 eliminatees and missed out on a SQ2 appearance by a slim 0.013 seconds wounding up 16^th. The Mexican also went wheel-to-wheel with Leclerc towards the end.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda qualified for the F1 Sprint in 17^th and in-front of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who ended up 18^th as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams’ Franco Colapinto brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024 Sprint Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1251/qatar/sprint-qualifying

2024 Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying Pole Position – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 1:21.012

 

“It’s tough, it’s so quick around here. It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. The final sector, you are just hanging on. Great qualifying today, great to bounce back from where we were in Vegas. We were coming here to get pole, so job done today.”

#F1 #QatarGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc quickest ahead of @McLarenF1 pairing.

#F1 Qatar Airways #QatarGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #QatarGrandPrix

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